1. Field of the invention
Dental floss is a well-known toilet article used to promote dental hygiene by polishing the surface areas of the teeth and removing unwanted matter from the interproximal areas between the teeth. Typically, in use, a segment of dental floss is passed between the crowns of two adjacent teeth in order to dispose the dental floss in the interproximal space. When the teeth are spaced closely together, the user of dental floss must apply to the ends of the dental floss segment a significant amount of pressure in the direction of the gum. As the dental floss initially passes between the crowns of two closely-spaced teeth, the movement of the dental floss toward the gum is restricted by the two crowns, but as the user continues to work the dental floss past the adjacent crowns, a point is reached at which the teeth are not so closely spaced, and so the movement of the floss toward the gum is suddenly accelerated. When this point is reached, the typical user, and particularly an inexperienced user, is unable to react quickly enough, by releasing the pressure he is exerting, to slow the further movement of the dental floss toward the gum. The result is a sudden movement of the floss, with consequent sudden and forceful contact of the dental floss against the gum, which causes discomfort to the user and often bleeding from the gum. Actual gingival gum injury can result from this forceful action where the tautly stretched, smooth, narrow floss acts in a manner similar to a scalpel. When gingival gum tissue becomes inflamed in an unhealthy state, it swells, turns soft and spongey, and bleeds easily, thus offering less resistance to injury from this cutting effect. Gum disease is at epidemic proportions, and most users of dental floss, whether waxed or unwaxed, smooth or treated, are awkward in its use until they develop the necessary dexterity to prevent this sudden acceleration toward the gum tissue in the interproximal space between the teeth.
2. Description of the prior art
Heretofore, dental floss has been composed of such materials or in such a fashion that the effect of the sudden and forceful contact upon the user's gum has been a problem. The shock-absorbency of prior art dental floss has been insufficient, either due to failure to construct the floss of a shock-absorbing material or due to covering of a potentially shock-absorbing material with a hardened or waxy surface coating.
In addition, many flosses used today are relatively small in diameter, thereby increasing the effect of the forceful striking on a small area of the gum and correspondingly increasing the risk of more intense trauma to that particular area. Of the remaining flosses that have relatively large diameters, the effect of the striking contact is not significantly mitigated, either because alternate portions of the floss have small diameters or because the diameter of the floss is decreased when distended.
In addition to the discomfort caused by heretofore manufactured dental flosses, another disadvantage has been the insufficiency of cleaning capacity caused, at least in part, by the small diameter and the smooth surface of the dental floss. One attempted solution to improve these characteristics has been to manufacture dental floss of a wide, flat ribbon, but such solution has been inadequate due to the difficulty in adequately providing such floss with the preferred textured surface and due to inability to provide such floss with sufficient shock-absorbency. A second attempted solution has been to provide a fibrous floss that possesses an expanded surface area when the floss is not distended, but such solution is likewise inadequate because certain surface areas of the teeth are encrusted with hardened plaque that requires greater floss tension for removal, and when such tension is supplied, this floss becomes distended and its surface area is reduced.